please share stories of career success 40+

[Anonymous]

I left the Big 4 in my late 40s and joined the feds as a GS-12. Seven years later a non-supervisory GS-15 which I'll likely stay in until retirement.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:To be honest 21-34 should be for partying. At work 34-49 is peak. So plenty of time ti make your move. Just do it.

I landed a really big job at 45 after goofing off till 35 in my career. That job ended at 55 and still got a big job. 60 is kiss of death job hopping but 40-55 is all good

No one needs 15 years of partying. Plus you need time for your spouse and kids. Kids, plus work dominated my 30s. They were a blur of family life. That happens for others in their 40s (and they killed their career in their 30s). No matter the time frame, it's hard to excel at work and at home. To do so requires a ton of help, and even then you are likely just surviving.

I got married at 36. Hence the 15 years or partying. I excelled at work just from 36-45 peak years. Got from cube to corner office and had three kids in that stretch of time. Then went into chill mode from 45-55. Had my big corner office and a bunch of staff to do the work. Bucket of cold water in face at 55 reinvested my self now in a new industry with a big office and staff. Going to chill again

Kids are great career. Do you know how much respect I get with three young kids banging out work!

What’s more interesting is my takeaway is his staff does the actual work? So why did he stop “partying”

Actually my partying for first 8 of those years while married were “work related” I had a lot of business trips. I went to Florida 10x, California, 3x, Texas 2x, Bermuda 8x, Chicago 16x, London, Toronto, Frankfurt and maybe 80-90 happy hours at work. I then got a a stable job for 10.5 years. But that was me in corner office and to be honest my staff sucked. So stopped going out. Plus my kids were 1 through 7. So I actually was home every day in time no going out. With 3 kids and stay at home wife and mortgage all my friends were work friends or on boards I serve on and it was all expenses. My wife did not mind as not our money and I got a lot of promotions. 4 on 8 years. New car, new kitchen, vacations. Yes I was gone a lot. But I was earning I say 3 paychecks. My peak salary was recently at 55 when I made 700k at work. Considering at 35 was making 60k quite a jump. I should have done my partying pre marriage at work. Little did I know it was a win win